Child&#39;s toy and exerciser



Sept. 20, 1960 J. THORNTON 2,953,376

` cHILD's TOY AND ExERcIsER Filed March 5,' 195e Ffa-4' 54- 1 8 -l? Wm zeg. ""1 l l l Il, 111,1/ lf/l Bumm/ln ma/W0# lUnited States Patent crnLDs roYANn ExERcrsnR Joseph H. Thornton, 801 W. 17th Ave., Spokane, Wash.

Y' Filed s, 1915s, ser. No. 718,745

s 1 claim. (ci. 212-55) The presentinvention 'is"a" ':l'1ilds toy andY e'Xerciser which is similar to equipment conventionally termed a teeter-totter and yet one which may be employed by one or more children at any given time.

The piece of playground equipment conventionally termed a teetertotter is well known as a childs toy and exerciser suitably adapted to exercise the body of `a child and teach coordination while being enjoyable to the child. One drawback to this piece of equipment is that it is necessary when employed in its intended use that at least two children be present, whereas often a single child may be possessed of the time and disposition to play and therefore exercise on a piece of equipment.

It is therefore one object of this invention to provide a childs toy and exerciser which may be operated by a single child if desired, but which may be used by more than one child when the occasion arises.

The present invention functions by means of a springboard having one end secured in a xed position and actuated over a fulcrum. However, a board designed for a child weighing 20 or 25 pounds may normally not be adequate for a child weighing 50 to 75 pounds, therefore it is another object of this invention to provide a childs toy and exerciser having means for selectively varying the tension of the springboard to make it adaptable for larger and heavier children or for more than one small child.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a childs toy and exerciser which is very inexpensive to manufacture and yet one having means for varying the tension of the springboard to make it adaptable for use of children of different ages and having considerably dilerent weights.

These and other important objects and advantages of the present invention are disclosed in the following specifcation and drawings, and will become apparent during the reading and study thereof.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein one exemplifying disclosure of a physical embodiment of my present invention is made, like numerals are employed to designate similar parts.

Figure l is a perspective view of the improved childs toy and exerciser;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal section of one end thereof;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal section showing the fastening of the handhold; and

FigureI 4 is a lateral section of the springboard at the handhold and footrest.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, I have disclosed a base member which in actual practice is a 2 x 12 board which may be of any desired length, but in actual practice, I nd that one 6 ft. long is very acceptable. superimposed upon this board, I provide a springboard 12 of 2 x 12. material which in the present disclosure is seen to be a bit longer than the base board 10 and may be 8 ft. -in length. The base board 10 and the springboard 12 are secured together at one end by passing carriage bolts l14 downwardly through aligned apertures formed in upper and lower clamping plates.16 and,18, and the marginal end portions of base board 10 and springboard 112. Internally threaded nuts 20 are applied to the carriage boltsV 14 over lock washers 22 4so that the ends of the-boards 10 and 12 are securely ixed together. y

The. base board 10 is provided with an anchoring strip 24 which is made of 2 x 2 material secured to the bottom end of the base boardadjacent tothe iixed ends of the boards by any acceptable'means such as wood screwsl 26.

On the upper face of the baseY board or base member 10, I providega first fulrumZS which is formed of 2 x 2 material secured thereto jin any manner such as by wood Vscrew .30, andwhich has its upperrlface angled at` 32 to coincide with thev 'acute angleV of kthe springboard 12 With respect to the base board 10.

It will be understood that any number of fulcrums may be applied intermediate the boards 10 and 12 and will be spaced longitudinally thereof, all but the rst fulcrum 28 will be applied in such a manner as to be selectively and alternately movable from a position effective to support the springboard to a position out of contact therewith.

I have shown but one secondary fulcrum, indicated in its entirety by the numeral 34, and it will be seen that the fulcrum is formed of a 2 X 4 strip having its upper face 36 angled to fit between the base member 10 and the springboard 12. The secondary fulcrum, however, is mounted on the base member 10 by means of a hinge 38 which is secured by screws 40 and 42 to the base member A10 and to the secondary fulcrum 34 respectively. On its end face, the secondary fulcrum 34 is provided with a hand knob 44 by means of which the fulcrum may be hingedly tilted from the full line position of Figure 2 to the dotted line position thereof, as shown by the broken arrow 46. It will thus be seen that the resiliency of the springboard 12 may be selectively varied in accordance with the fulcrum effective to support the springboard. Obviously, the heavier a child is, the greater distance the secondary fulcrum will be spaced from the secured end, and when the range of sizes of children to use the equipment is large, there may be more than one secondary fulcrum spaced at desired distances from the secured end of the piece of equipment.

At its free end, the springboard is provided with a handhold 48 which comprises a piece of standard pipe 50 threaded at its lower end, as seen in 52, having an enlarged washer 54, having internal threads cooperating with the threads 52, threaded thereon to the upper limit of the threads 52. A second washer 56 of similar structure is supplied at the lower end of the pipe 50 after it is passed through an aperture 58 formed through the springboard 12 at a point spaced from the free end thereof a suflicient distance to accommodate a child on the outer end portion of the springboard. A clamping nut 60 is applied to clamp the pipe and washers suiciently to draw them into the faces of the springboard 12 as clearly seen in Figure 3 of the drawing.

A pipe fitting known as a T 60 is threaded on the upper end of the pipe 50 and short pipe nipples 62 are threaded into opposed sides thereof. Hand grips 64, such as handlebar grips of bicycles, are secured or cemented on said nipples. It will thus be seen that there is su'i-cient space on both sides of the handhold 48 longitudinally of the board for a child to sit while using the piece of equipment.

At a substantially vertical plane common to the pipe 50 and the nipples 62, footrests 66 are disposed. These footrests are formed from a metal bar 68 shaped as shown in Figure 4 of the drawing, and secured thereto by means of U-bolts 70 or other securing means.

The sideedges of thev springboard 12 longitudinally spaced, laterally disposed pairs of recesses 72-72. These recesses or depressions are formed to accommodate the legs of children seated upon the board at opposite sides of the handhold 48. nIt is-thus at once obvious that the board is designed for-theuseof a single child or for two children by providing sufcient room for more than one child, and also for children having a wide variation in weight, by providing means for varying the flexibility of the springboard.

At the end of the base member 10 opposed to the anchoring strip 24, I provide conventional suction cups 25 which effectively anchor the device when it is used upon a smooth surface such as a linoleum covered floor. Having thus described and disclosed my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States the following:

In a childs toy and exerciser, a spring board having a free end and its opposed end secured in a xed position with said spring board being disposed lin-a position for are formed with a child to sit thereupon with a leg on each side thereof; fulcrums normally disposed spaced from each other longitudinally of and for supporting said spring board to ex thereover when the free end of said spring board is depressed', means for manually and selectively rendering alternate ones of said fulcrums eiective to support said spring board; whereby the resiliency of said board is selectively variable; and a hand hold on said spring board spaced from the free end thereof suiciently to accommodate a child on either side thereof longitudinally of said spring board.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Albach. Aug. 16, 1927 

